Golcar United had a heart-breaking conclusion to their 2024/25 season as they lost 4-3 on penalties to Route One Rovers in the West Riding County Cup Final at Fleet Lane.

It finished 2-2 after normal time, as second-half headers from Alfie Wilkinson and George Doyle brought Golcar within minutes of victory, before our opponents scored an equaliser in stoppage time.

Despite Golcar having more possession in the opening stages, Route One had the better of the chances. Harry Stead produced a fine stop after Zakariya Khan found himself one-on-one with the keeper, but it wasn’t long after that our opponents took the lead.

Danya Yasin skipped past the left side of the Golcar defence and slotted past Stead to give The Rovers the lead within 15 minutes.

The Weavers responded brilliantly, but they somehow didn’t score in the first half. The bulk of the chances came from Nicky Clee’s fabulous inswung corners. Alfie Wilkinson had a near-post header that forced a great save out of Route One’s keeper, Dane Byron, whilst Sam Pashley saw his header from six yards out sail over the bar.

Ryan Hall had a bright game, and he had an effort smothered by Byron in the final 5 minutes of the first half, whilst on the other side of the interval, he had two efforts on the stretch that went over the bar.

Golcar had a scare ten minutes into the second half as Route One thought they doubled their lead, but the linesman immediately flagged as the scorer had handballed it into the net.

A few minutes later, Golcar got their deserved leveller. Alfie Wilkinson once again got the Golcar faithful bouncing in this competition as he guided Oli Russon’s corner into the roof of the net at the near post.

Despite Hall’s decent performance, Ashley and Gavin Conner’s proactiveness in bringing him off should have been the decisive reason why Golcar won the cup.

With his first passage of play on the ball, Rico Kilbourn skipped past his marker and whipped in an inch-perfect ball to George Doyle, who nodded it into the back of the net to spark jubilant scenes with The Village faithful behind the goal.

With the immense energy levels it took to create all them chances to take the lead, the toll it took on Golcar to get the advantage started to show late in the game. Route One were allowed to grow in confidence as The Weavers started to sit deeper.

Then, when Golcar got the ball, tired minds were on show as potential counterattacks were squandered due to passes being forced, and the execution wasn’t quite up to the standards we have grown accustomed to throughout the season.

Route One got the equaliser just as we entered the eight minutes of stoppage time at the end of the game. One of the Rovers’ attackers nipped in front of Stead on the right side of the box, and his cross across the area was met by Zakariya Khan, who slotted the ball into the bottom right corner.

The lottery of a penalty shootout brought devastation as Haroon Dad scored the winning spot-kick to win the final 4-3 on penalties after each side took six spot kicks.

Golcar: Stead, Pashley, Lawrence, Field, Clee, Russon, Clegg (Naidole, 47), Wilkinson, Hall, (Kilbourn, 61), Doyle (North, 88), Petch.

Scorers: Wilkinson (58), Doyle (62).

Photo: Sean Doyle

Thank you to everyone who has read these match reports in recent months.

Up The Village! On to the 2025/26 season!